Balance and Flow (30min)
Gentle Standing & Stabilizing Sequence
In this asana session, we focus on balancing from various bases. We specifically move from kneeling to standing with Goasana (tabletop), Vrksasana (tree) and Trikonasana (triangle) to engage and improve our stability and core strength. We break up this sequence with a clean Sun Salutation in the middle, and close with a simple Pranayama (breathing) exercise to both integrate the movement and calm the mind.
This is a Level 2 class.
Your Teacher
Shani (“Dr. OM”) Ojukwu Mantenso is the Principal Movement Specialist with Hadiya Movement Systems, a private virtual movement studio. A gymnast, dancer, and Ph.D. in Performance Studies, Shani is also a yoga teacher-healer trained and certified in trauma-sensitive MindBody Centering Yoga. Along with other movement forms like Pilates, barre/basic ballet, functional calisthenics, and tumbling fundamentals she offers through HMS, Shani is privileged to provide spirit-based and trauma-informed asana as an adjunctive therapy and mode of somatic centering, cultivation, and joy. Herself on a healing journey from depression, domestic abuse, complex PTSD, and global white supremacy/racial capitalism, Shani is a proud and self-proclaimed “wounded healer.” Through her intentional observance of the eight limbs of yoga, Shani Ojukwu Mantenso has dedicated her personal and professional life to creating the optimal conditions of possibility for freedom for herself and others—mind, body, and spirit.